Find a lost phone

It's nerve-wracking when you can't find your phone. Whether it's truly
lost, or just stuck between the sofa cushions, Find My Phone can help lay your
worry to rest. This free service on windowsphone.com can ring, lock, erase, or
show your Windows Phone on a map from any Internet-connected computer.

To sign in to Find My Phone for the first time

The first time you use Find My Phone, you'll need to sign in to it using your Microsoft account.

On your computer, go to windowsphone.com.

Point to the phone in the upper-right corner, then click Find My Phone. If you're prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you used to sign in on your phone.

To find your phone

On your computer, go to windowsphone.com.

Point to the phone in the upper-right corner, then click Find My Phone. If you're prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you used to sign in on your phone.

You'll see a map with your phone's location. You can zoom in or out to get a better view.

Tips

Not seeing the latest location? Click Refresh.

If you'd like to make a hard copy of your phone's location, click Print.

If you've scrolled the map and lost track of your phone's location on it, click Center on map.

To ring or lock your phone

On your computer, go to windowsphone.com.

Point to the phone in the upper-right corner, then click Find My Phone. If you're prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you used to sign in on your phone.

Do one of the following:

To make your phone ring, click Ring and then follow the instructions. It will ring even if the volume is off or set to vibrate.

To lock your phone and show a message on the lock screen, click Lock, and then follow the instructions. If you don't already have a password set up on your phone, you'll need to enter one—you'll use it to unlock the phone if you get it back.

To erase your phone

If you're certain you can't get your phone back, or if you have sensitive information on it that you want to protect until you recover it, you can erase your phone remotely.

On your computer, go to windowsphone.com.

Point to the phone in the upper-right corner, then click Find My Phone. If you're prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you used to sign in on your phone.

Note

It's a good idea to let your mobile operator know that you've lost your phone.

To change settings for Find My Phone

You can set up Find My Phone to save your location every few hours, or to use push notifications instead of text messages to send commands (and apps) to your phone faster and more cheaply. You'll change these settings on your phone, not on your computer.

Always use push notifications (not SMS) to send commands and apps to my phone. The Find My Phone service and the Windows Phone Store on the web use text messaging to send commands and apps to your phone. Check this option to use push notifications instead. Why? Push notifications can be faster than text messages, and if your mobile operator charges you for each incoming text message, push notifications might also be cheaper. Also, Find My Phone can only send 15 text messages to your phone in a three-day period. With push notifications, there's no limit.

Save my phone's location periodically and before the battery runs out to make it easier to find. Microsoft can save your phone's location details every few hours so that if your phone is out of range or the battery dies, we can still show your phone's last known location on a map.